Unpleasant feelings.

Bailey

I glance to my bedroom door when it opens and Tyler walks in, without saying anything he plops down on my bed. I raise an eyebrow as I watch him stare at the ground with a slight frown on his face, I think I know why he's here so I go back to writing in my notebook until he's ready to speak.

Which happens after 5 minutes "I'm scared."

I drop my pen and turn to him "Because of the full moon?" He nods in confirmation and I ask "Why exactly?"

He shrugs "This will be my first full moon and need I remind you what happened the last time I transformed?"

I shake my head "We're not going over that again."

"But what if I hurt someone again?"

"You won't." I say without a doubt "Because this time will be completely different. You'll be with your pack in the woods while everyone else will be safely here on campus. And if they are out in the woods then whatever happens to them is on them not you, because the dean made it clear that it'll be a full moon."

He sighs "I guess you're right."

"I am." I say with a smug look and he scratches the top of his nose with his middle finger and I snort a laugh. "I haven't seen you hooking up with random girls lately." I tilt my head "Is there a reason for that?"

He shrugs "Perhaps I met someone."

I raise an eyebrow "Natalie?"

I need to know if it's the same Natalie who is Eli's half-sister.

He grimace but doesn't answer the question and instead asks "What are you working on?" he comes closer to my desk.

"Nothing much, just some work."

His eyes narrow and I follow his eyes to the pen on my desk with 'Eli Matthews' engraved on it, I immediately snatch the pen away but it's too late because he already saw it. I clear my throat "Mr Matthews gave a bunch of students these pens for doing good in class."

He scoffs "Bullshit. Professors are the only ones who has those pens, because it was a gift from the dean. I would know because my professor has the exact same one with her name on it."

My heart starts pounding in my chest and I stand up from my chair "Fine. I stole it from him."

He raises an eyebrow "Why?"

I shrug to appear nonchalant "I just felt like being rebellious and I like the pen. So I took it."

He looks at me like I said the most stupidest thing ever but he decides to drop it "Alright, I should get ready for the woods then."

He walks to the door but pause when I say "You got this, Ty."

He glances over his shoulder and gives me a small smile before walking out and I immediately let out a heavy breath as I try to get my heart to calm down. I glance down at the pen in my hand and rub a finger over his name, feeling a shiver run down my spine.

Not a pleasant one.

I frown as I take out the photo with address on and something inside of me is telling me to go there. So I grab the photo, the key and my purse before walking out of my room. I find Liliana entering the dorm and she tilts her head "Where are you heading?"

"Oh, I just need to take care of something real quick before the dean puts the barrier back on."

She hums "I'll go with you."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise "I'm good thank you."

"Pretty please, I just got into a huge fight with my parents. I need some kind distraction."

If she goes with me then technically I'm not going against Eli's words because I didn't go alone, right? "Fine but we're taking the bus."

She has a horrified expression "What? Absolutely not. We'll take my car."

I frown "Since when do you have a car?"

"Since my parents tried apologising for being horrible parents. Again."

"Oh." She mentioned a couple of times how her parents constantly buys her things to get into her good books "Well let's take your car for a spin then."

"Yes!" She claps and heads for her room "Let me get the keys."

After one pit stop at the gas station to use the bathroom and get more snacks, we finally reach the address. The house seems different than on the photo and I glance at Liliana "I'll go, you stay here."

"Bossy much." She says but stays put as I walk up to the house.

Before I can even put the key into the keyhole, the door opens revealing an older looking man and I try not to let my surprise show "Oh, hi. I didn't know anyone was living here."

He stares me up and down and I think he's sizing me up "What do you want?"

Lie, lie, lie. "Well you see my parents died recently and I found out this is the first ever house they bought." I make an effort of putting my hand on my chest to seem in distress "I just wanted to have a look around, see if here's anything that reminds me of them. To help me grieve better."

He grunts as he moves out of the way "Come inside then."

I give Liliana a thumbs up, ignoring her concerned look before walking inside and he closes the door behind me as I look around. "Beautiful house."

"Thanks." He nods to the kitchen "I'm having tea, you want some?"

"No thank you."

He nods and makes his way to the kitchen and I wait until he's gone before walking back to the front door and silently putting the key in the keyhole.

Not a match.

My shoulder slump when I realise this isn't the key to the house and I make my way to the kitchen but pause when my eyes land on a picture on the wall. It's a high school graduation picture of a pretty redhead and I frown as I think about where the hell have I seen her before. My eyes widen when I realise who she is.

Natalie.

I blink about a thousand times as I try to wrap my head around the fact that this may be Natalie's father. I shake my head slightly before walking to the kitchen to find him sitting by the kitchen island sipping his tea and I say "I couldn't help but notice your pictures on the wall. Is that your daughter?" When he nods in confirmation, I ask "And where is she now? If you don't mind me asking of course."

"Natalie is away for college, she's studying medicine." He says proudly

I can't help but smile "Smart girl." I also can't help but imagine her and Tyler having some kind of connection…if it's the same Natalie.

"That she is, I'm glad she's not taking after her mother. The woman was trouble day and night." He pauses "I'm so sorry for bothering you when you're grieving."

I shake my head "It's okay. Really."

He sighs "I just haven't spoken to anyone much since Natalie left for college."

"Understandable." I take a seat next to him "What type of person was her mother?"

He grimace "The bad type. I don't mean to speak bad of the dead but her and her little witch friends were always causing trouble."

I frown "What kind of trouble exactly?"

He leans closer to me like he's about to tell me some secret "Well they were all a part of this little sisterhood and it was known that they would perform a sacrificial ritual once a month so that they would remain powerful. So once a month, they would sacrifice a human for their own sick need."

My eyes widen "No way. How long have they been doing this for?"

He shrugs "Could be months if not years but they all eventually died because someone put a curse on them. I'm not sure who it was or what the curse was."

I don't know how to feel.

My mom sacrificing humans and someone putting a curse on her is all too much for me. I'm about to stand up but he says "The poor guy who lived here before me had his daughter taken away by them."

I blink about a thousand times "What do you mean?"

"The guy who used to live in this house before me had a daughter with one of the witches and she just took his daughter away from him." He snaps his fingers "Just like that."

"That's awful." I say softly. "Do you perhaps know who the guy was?"

He tilts his head slightly as he thinks until he says "Cory Robinson if I remember correctly. I think he's the dean of that school for supernaturals." I make a choked sound at the back of my throat and I cough awkwardly, he frowns and pours me a glass of water "Here you go."

"Thank you." I down the water in one go before standing up "I think I should get going but thank you for letting me into your home."

"Of course." He holds his hand out to me "Joey."

I smile as I shake his hand "Bailey."

"I hope you heal after grieving your parents, Bailey."

I nod "Thank you."

After bidding him goodbye, I walk out having more questions than answers.